Remember When?

1991 started off with snow – a lot of it! In three days Thompson Falls got 17 inches of snow. The following week, more snow fell bringing the depth to 30 inches. The week after that the weather warmed up and Thompson Falls received almost an inch of rain on top of the snow.

30 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 17, 1991

RAIN COLLAPSES MUSEUM ROOF

Recent heavy snows coupled with a continuous rain worked to collapse the roof on the Old Jail Museum in Thompson Falls and sent worries of doubt to museum directors as to the future of the popular attraction.

Museum president Sherry Hagerman-Benton organized a crew to remove as many items as possible Saturday, shortly after the mishap was discovered.

First to notice the damage was Paul Rosdahl who lives just south of the building. He noticed that the building appeared different and the perimeter was scattered with bricks.

Jerry Bybee, a Sanders County Historical Society member who was one of the first to assess the damages, reflected that it appeared the roof structure, which was hipped on four sides, lacked cross ties from one side to the other. Consequently deteriorating materials and the weight of the snow combined with the rain absorbed by the snow caused the roof of the structure to collapse, with each of the roof faces falling flat against the top of the building.

The action rained rows of bricks off the top of the walls, but fortunately no one was around at the time.

Hagerman-Benton said the historical society was budgeted $5,000 from the county commissioners for a new roof but that project had to be put off until the weather improved. Although she was at first of the belief that a new roof might be beyond the budget of the society, she was encouraged when Rep. Jim Elliott offered to pursue emergency funds from a state coal tax program. The funds would carry a requirement that the roof be rebuilt exactly as it was before.

Hagerman-Benton was pleased with the response of both Elliott and Sen. Paul Svrcek who promised to give the society’s request high priority.

In the meantime, society members continued with mopping up the damage Monday and Tuesday, with the rain that infiltrated the open roof finally starting to drip into the building. “No displays were damaged,” said Hagerman-Benton.

Museum pieces that might suffer from water damage were taken to temporary storage until the building can be repaired.

County Commissioner Cherie Hooten surveyed the scene Saturday morning shortly after the damage was discovered. Later it was determined that the structure was insured with the county’s policy with a $1,000 deductible.

Before it became a museum, the building housed the Sanders County Sheriff’s Department and Jail, which moved to new quarters. Although the county commission wished to tear the building down, numerous meetings with interested patrons persuaded them to lease the building to the city which enabled “Green Thumb” workers to help in the renovation of the structure. The building opened as a museum in August of 1980.

I was pleased to work with the architect who researched what the original roof looked like. After looking at old photographs of the structure he noted that it originally had four chimneys. He also mentioned that the insurance company didn’t know that there was only one chimney when the roof collapsed. So he sketched in four chimneys on the roof plan returning the look of the building as it was built. He also had the contractor put the old brick, which had fallen to the front, hiding the new brick, which was a different color and texture behind it, thus maintaining the outside appearance of the building.

105 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 21, 1916

CUTTING ICE CROP

Quite a number of men and teams are employed this week in harvesting the annual ice crop for various local concerns.

E. Preston has a crew of men and teams putting up ice for Hoyt & Peterson, Ward Hotel, W.M. Cummings, Dr. Peek, Thompson Falls Power Company, Garden City Brewery warehouse, and also for himself.

The Thompson Meat & Trading Company, Lux Bros., and C.H. Norton are each putting up large quantities and Henry Florin is filling the ice houses of E.C. Florin & Co. and John Sanfacon. It is estimated that about 600 tons will be stored away when the last load is hauled. The ice is of excellent quality this season, being 11 inches thick.

The ice was stored in double walled frame buildings with sawdust packed inside the walls as insulation. The ice blocks also had layers of sawdust between them to keep it from melting during warmer weather. Preston delivered the ice to homes for their ice box refrigerators.